Happy Half Birthday, Fall Break and "Spring Ya'" Day

My life is rolling by so quickly these days that I'm having to combine several big events in our family into one blog post. Considering it's almost 1 a.m. and I really should be sleeping ... well, you get the idea.

We celebrated Ellie's "half" birthday several weeks back by having mini cakes at home. Ellie was all about having cake and a candle. Apparently, so was Josh as he wanted his own as well. Due to the wonderful habit of couponing, we have several mini cakes in our refrigerator that were FREE so I didn't mind both kids having their own. I can't believe my tiny girl is two and a half already. Some of the fun things she is doing now is potty training (we are really almost there with wet diapers, but not so much with dirty ones), talking up a storm, asking "WHY?" several times throughout the day, singing all the time, counting to 15, giving a lot of grief to Josh (including hitting him which has resulted in several trips to time out and several stern lectures), loving on all of us (she says I love you all the time!!), coloring, playing dress up and enjoying everything about life these days (well, except naps and sleeping still!).

Here are some photos of her and Josh celebrating her "half" birthday.

We are in the middle of fall break from both school and preschool/mother's day out. Having both kids at home has been both fun and challenging. We've had a couple of field trips and those have been nice. Bickering between the two of them seems to be at a record high and that hasn't been so nice. And it's over the silliest things: whose going to hold the DVD player in the car, who gets to hold a piece of paper, who gets to pick what to watch on television -- silly.

On Monday, Josh, Ellie and I headed out to Chuck E Cheese. I thought it would be a horrible experience, but it turned out to be quite fun. There wasn't a lot that Ellie was big enough to play on, but she managed to use her 10-15 tokens and "earned" 34 tickets. That bought her a ring, bracelet and a sucker and her life was literally complete!! Josh got a lot of game time in and that's always a plus for him! I have photos on my camera phone, but as anyone knows whose ever been to CEC, you don't want to have to hold on to anything you don't have to -- my hands were full as it was!



Tuesday we went to the pumpkin patch. MeeMee went with us and we had a really good time -- well, right up until she had a flat tire when we left. But even that didn't dampen our spirits as we went to lunch while we waited for the repair truck to arrive!

These are my photos from the day. I hope to get mom's up on here in a day or two as well as she has several I don't have!























To see the entire album (well, the ones I've finished editing anyway) visit here.

Wednesday was pretty much a stay-at-home day. Tomorrow we are headed off to the local park for some duck feeding (and picture taking, I'm sure -- poor kids are SICK TO DEATH of having their pictures made!) and then on the doctor's office to get flu shots for the year. I'll be glad to have that out of the way early this year!

Friday we are going to attempt to go up to Kentucky for a visit to the drive-in movies. We've always said we were going and never made it, but I think we just might make it this week!! I'm SO excited. I don't remember having ever been and I know the kids haven't. They are showing Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me as a double feature. Ellie will PASS OUT long before the second feature starts. I'm hopeful that it won't be too cool.

And, last, but certainly not least: two years ago today (the 14th), I was able to "Spring" Ellie out of her first home, the orphanage in Tokmok, and into my arms forever. We don't officially celebrate her "Gotcha" Day until the 24th because that's the day we got home and became a family of four, but this day is so significant and special to me -- it our day, mine and hers, where we bonded and became mom and daughter!!

And for those of you wondering why there is a (c) watermark across my photos now, it's because ... well, that's a post for tomorrow. Stay tuned!!